iOS 16: Apple Pay works on Chrome, Firefox and Edge

It is already possible to use Apple Pay via Safari and iOS 16 allows you to take advantage of it on other browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge and many others.

Firefox, Chrome and Safari

As have noticed of users, the Apple Pay button is present when paying when Firefox, Chrome or another browser is used on iOS 16. With iOS 15, you had to go through Safari. Apple has therefore changed the behavior, which is good news for users.

As the note Steve Moser, this change may not come to macOS with macOS Ventura. This is due to Apple’s rules. On iOS, Apple requires Internet browsers to use WebKit, namely Safari’s rendering engine. Chrome, Firefox and the others are therefore technically Safari under the hood. Conversely, there is no such rule on macOS, which allows Mozilla to use its rendering engine on Firefox. Ditto for Google on the side of Chrome and others that rely on Chromium.

Why this change with iOS 16? It may be related to the European Union. The Digital Markets Act, which will come into force in the spring of 2023, imposes a set of rules on large companies, such as Apple, Meta and Google, to promote competition with smaller entities. A draft of the new legislation specifically goes after companies that force app developers to use their own rendering engine.